In the 21 countries with a minimum wage, the average country has an unemployment rate of 11.8%; whereas, the average unemployment rate in the seven nations without a minimum wage is about one third lower – at 7.9%.

The real targets of the “haircut” are businesses, entrepreneurs and the middle class

News that the Cypriot President’s family moved 21 million euros to London days before the bank accounts of his people were looted as part of the bailout deal serves as another reminder that while the media portrays the victims of the Cyprus “haircut” as the mega rich and wealthy Russian oligarchs, the real victims are middle class families and small business owners.

And,

In addition, as Reuters reports, “While ordinary Cypriots queued at ATM machines to withdraw a few hundred euros as credit card transactions stopped, other depositors used an array of techniques to access their money.”

Branches and subsidiaries of Cypriot banks in London and Russia remained open while banks in Cyprus were closed, allowing Russian oligarchs and other wealthy depositors to move their money.

When asked about the amount of money that had exited Cyprus before the bailout deal, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble refused to provide figures.

The euro fell on global markets after Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch chairman of the eurozone, announced that the heavy losses inflicted on depositors in Cyprus would be the template for future banking crises across Europe.

“If there is a risk in a bank, our first question should be ‘Okay, what are you in the bank going to do about that? What can you do to recapitalise yourself?’,” he said.

“If the bank can’t do it, then we’ll talk to the shareholders and the bondholders, we’ll ask them to contribute in recapitalising the bank, and if necessary the uninsured deposit holders.”

Because,

“If we want to have a healthy, sound financial sector, the only way is to say, ‘Look, there where you take on the risks, you must deal with them, and if you can’t deal with them, then you shouldn’t have taken them on,'” he said.

It would have been nice of him to have warned savers that their accounts could be raided. But I digress.

ol·i·garch

But it’s not just Russia that is affected by the proposed bank account tax in Cyprus. Oligarchs in Ukraine also like to transfer money to Cyprus and then re-invest it back home. Just like in Russia, Cyprus has been the largest foreign investor in Ukraine. In 2011, the country invested more than $10 billion, according to Ukraine’s statistics agency Derzhkomstat. That represents one-fifth of the total foreign investments in the former Soviet republic.

More than 90 percent of all Ukrainian foreign investments in 2012 went to Cyprus. If ownership changes in the Ukraine, a company with a postal address in Cyprus simply gets replaced by another one in Cyprus.

According to two European officials familiar with the talks, the new proposal being floated by the government would see smaller depositors, those with up to €100,000, taxed at 3% rate—down from 6.75% as initially envisaged. Savers with €100,000 to €500,000 would be taxed at a 10% rate; and those with over €500,000 taxed at 15%, one official said.

Because the “small savers” are the ones who take to the streets, storm the banks’ doors, and riot.

Maybe the EU ought to be worrying about Putin, who’s not happy,

The deposit levy would be felt sharply by Russian financial institutions and companies which have large footholds on the island. According to Moody’s Investors Service estimates, Russian residents and institutions could lose around $2 billion if Cyprus goes ahead with this latest unconfirmed proposal to raise taxes on deposits.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has strongly criticized a proposed deposit tax in Cyprus that could cost Russian financial institutions an estimated $2 billion as “unfair” and “dangerous,” his spokesman told news agencies Monday.

“Mr. Putin said that such a decision, if adopted, would be unfair, unprofessional and dangerous,” said his spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

As the country hopes for a huge bailout, Spanish newspaper El País has an article in Spanish inciting Spaniards of all ages to legally look for work anywhere in the world, since Spain’s unemployment rate is a mind-boggling 25%.

By “anywhere in the world”, I really mean anywhere, including Communist China. The only continent they don’t mention is Africa.

The labor market is not recovering, and emigration is the most frequent alternative.

Europe is the preferred option for Spaniards.

Latin America and USA follow. China has opportunities for the most daring.

English-speakers in engineering, tech, and health-related professions are in demand. The article says that recruiters from Norway, Austria, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, United Kingdom, France and Switzerland are hiring Spaniards. Singapore, Israel are also hiring. The Latin American countries are ranked by most-restrictive (Brazil and Chile) to least restrictive. The only country they do not recommend is India.

They have a world map showing the local unemployment rates, and jobs in demand.

This is terrible in two ways: Spain had briefly recovered from the centuries-long diaspora of its best and brightest, most of which were not schooled but found education and opportunity in other lands (as my grandparents did). Now the brain drain is striking twice as hard, with Spanish engineers looking for work elsewhere, even unemployment among engineers is “only” 8%.

The article goes on to compare entrance restrictions among countries, and advises anyone contemplating China to look in medium-sized cities, settle for much lower pay, and, if you are going to live there while job hunting, to give yourself six months to learn the local language and have 4,000-5,000€ to live on.

It ends by saying,

Now all you need to do is to gather your courage and pack your bags. These countries offer a better job future than Spain. Without a doubt.

While Hugo Chávez is in Cuba “for medical tests”, his former doctor says he only has 2 years left to live due to an aggressive sarcoma of the pelvis. He also stated that Hugo has been under long-term treatment for manic depression.